TakeWorlds2 weeks ago
Guillaume Boivin was called up days before the 2026 UCI Road World Championships as an alternate, after Derek Gee-West broke ribs at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal. He spent more than 140 kilometres in the breakaway on his home roads, then announced his retirement. Seventeen years on the WorldTour, and the closing image is still him in a move he wasn't supposed to be racing at all.
Boivin had no contract with NSN Cycling for 2027 and no plan to line up in Montreal until Gee-West's crash forced the call. Three national titles and a 9th at Paris-Roubaix are the palmarès line, but that was never the point of his career. «I hope I managed to share my passion for cycling, along with perseverance and resilience» is how he put it — and «I've lived everything I was meant to live» is the tone he left on.
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